it’s more than just hair

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You know that sick feeling in your stomach that happens after you realize a client has totally taken advantage of you? Ya, it’s the worst isn’t it?

It feels like they are all out to get you, doesn’t it? Like their mission in life is to ask way too much of us! Who texts their hairstylist at 11 pm at night asking to get squeezed in last minute for the next day, and actually thinks it can happen!?

Creativity and anxiety tend to come together, and sometimes it makes creativity feel like a curse.

And it doesn’t help that creative careers involve a lot of anxiety-inducing activities, like putting yourself out there and talking to people when you’d rather hide from everyone and just create stuff.

In this edition of The Anxious Creative, you’re going to learn all about overcoming the anxiety of building your clientele.

Today on this solo Dawn episode, I’m talking about why I decided slow down my business and specialize in hair painting.

Quick background: Like pretty much everything that’s changed my life and business, I got into hair styling kind of by accident. I took a class in high school, went to hair school after I graduated, and took some time to travel around and keep learning.

She’s been in the industry for six years, and she’s only 22! Sarayah is from New Jersey and got started at 16 in a high school vocational program that allowed her to graduate with a high school diploma and a cosmetology license.

She started by sweeping and doing bowls in salons, then moved up to assisting. She decided to start an Instagram account and got some traction, and the salon that fired her as an assistant actually invited her back as a stylist. Nuts, right?

In this episode, I chat with my boyfriend Nick about one of my all-time favorite topics: communication.

Nick is a minister, which means he has to communicate a lot with staff, volunteers, and the people in his congregation. With lots of practice, trial, and error, he’s learned a thing or two about communicating.

I’m so excited for you guys to meet one of my favorite people ever, Constance Robbins!

Constance reached out to me on Instagram about three years ago and we were instant friends. (Wow, just realized I make a lot of friends on Instagram!)

Constance is a California girl and just opened a gorgeous, all-white, 1300 square foot salon. Pretty cool, right? She’s been a hairstylist for about 15 years and is a freaking badass colorist! (Check out her Instagram page, seriously).

A few weeks back, my American twin, Shirley Hagel had me on her podcast. I had such a fun time I just had to share it over here with you guys. We chat about how we randomly found each other, plus she asked me about parts of my career I’ve never shared online before, like working for Aveda..

It took me a long time of working as a hairstylist to realize that the biggest factor of my success was my communication.

And when I say that I mean, learning how to communicate. It wasn’t something I was ever taught or something I knew to be important. I just assumed (that’s a scary word to use and something I’ve learned I should never do) that people knew what I was talking about and if they didn’t it wasn’t my fault, it was theirs for not understanding.

That’s exactly how I used to be. I lived most of my life not even knowing what boundaries were. If someone asked something of me, I had to say yes. I didn’t even know “no” was an option, and I doubt I’m on the only one.

It sucks. Just last week I was sitting on my couch trying to get some work done and I was suddenly so frustrated. You know that feeling when you want to throw something across the room or break something but instead you burst into tears because it's just too much?

Yeah, that was me. A crying mess, teardrops staining my beautiful tan leather couch. Both Nick and Leroy were staring at me, not really sure if they should console me or be terrified of me.

In this very special episode, I chat with my very own therapist, McKenzie!

I’ve been seeing McKenzie for 2-3 years (neither of us can quite remember, lol). I started seeing her after ending up in the hospital with a panic attack. McKenzie specializes in treating anxiety and trauma with talk therapy and other methods like EMDR.

This past week I got sick, probably thanks to a combo of Calgary's up and down weather and running myself a bit too hard. I have this habit of getting excited and biting off more than I can chew, and I think it just caught up with me.

So when I saw what I’d planned to write about for today’s post I laughed.

I’d written down “When you don't have time to do all the things” on my content calendar. On a day when I’d run myself into the ground by trying to do all the things.

I met Nina in person at a class she taught shortly after I moved to Calgary. Her story moved me and resonated so much that I had a minor emotional meltdown in the middle of the class. That was a big deal, because trust me, I do not usually cry in front of people. It was that powerful.

Earlier this year, I did an Instagram live about my creative process, and I shared that I like to use mantras to help keep my mind focused and on track.

It was one of those moments when I said something in passing, assuming no one would care or even listen to such a tiny detail, and I got a huge response! A bunch of people wanted to know about my mantras. Months later, I STILL get message about this.

I met Shirley on Instagram of all places when she commented on one of my posts. I creeped on her profile and immediately started noticing similarities: we both have nose piercings, similar tattoos (we both have a heart on our wrists!), and we have the same anxiety necklace.

I came to this retreat alone, which is something that definitely isn't natural for me, but I am committing keep doing because of a greater purpose. So as I nervously walked up to the icebreaker cocktail hour, I beelined it for the bar to get me some liquid courage.

Then I pushed past the discomfort to start chatting with strangers. Little did I know some of the amazing friendships that would come out of this weekend!

This week on the podcast, I had an awesome conversation with Alicia Soulier, owner of Capelli Salon Studio and founder of the incredible SalonScale app. Alicia is an entrepreneur and award winning hair stylist, and I had a blast talking with her.